Pieter Bickford
Running for school board in Washington County
Email: pbickford@gmail.com
How old will you be on Election Day (Nov. 3)?
55
Are you currently employed? If so, where, and what is your job title?
HighRock, director of client relationships
What is the highest level of education that you completed, and where did you get that degree?
Bachelor's degree from Ithaca College
Why are you running for the school board?
I previously served for two terms and enjoyed the work. I'm proud of the school system that I was raised in, and want to see it continue to flourish.
What makes you a good candidate for the board?
Being on a school board requires working well with others. I enjoy collaboration and making team decisions. My background in journalism has trained me to listen to both sides of an issue and carefully make the best decision. Plus, in my time as a board member, I've seen the passage of the Blueprint law, passed eight budgets and hired two superintendents.
What is the most important issue facing your school board and what would you do about it if elected?
Ensuring that all students receive a quality education and have a plan for the Monday after graduation. We have excellent programs in Washington County to help students who have a passion to explore their interests. Our apprenticeship program is so good it was modeled by the state. The reality is that there are still too many students who don’t get access to the programs they need. I would fight for additional funding from our funding sources, our local county commissioners and the state of Maryland in order to grow our budget to expand access to these pathways.
Please name a public leader you admire and explain why.
My great-grandfather, Lancaster D. Herritt. He worked in the logging industry in Pennsylvania as a boy. He was one of the kids sent out to break up log jams on the river, a hard, deadly job. He later started his own logging business and helped build the town of Jersey Shore, Pennsylvania. He even donated land and his house to be used as the town hospital. I later discovered that he served on the Board of Education, which showed me that the desire to serve our communities runs deep in my family.
The Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, passed by the General Assembly in 2021, is a 10-year plan that includes increased funding to support early childhood education, higher teacher starting pay, college/career-readiness standards for high school graduates, and expanded services to multilingual and impoverished families, among other goals. Since the Blueprint's implementation, test scores have increased modestly in many parts of the state, but some school officials complain about the costs and administrative burdens placed on them by the Blueprint. Please tell us your views on the Blueprint and how it is affecting your school district.
The spirit behind the Blueprint is good and well‑intentioned, but like many large‑scale government efforts, it gets bogged down in bureaucracy. For example, although we have a state Board of Education, a separate office must also be negotiated with to oversee Blueprint funding, which is a wasteful duplication. Some parts of the Blueprint are already working well. Schools serving high‑needs students become community schools, freeing teachers to focus on instruction while dedicated staff address other student needs, such as medical, social and economic challenges.
Chronic absenteeism has been a problem in many schools since the Covid-19 pandemic. How big of a problem is absenteeism in your school district, and what if anything can the Board of Education do about it?
Our staff works very hard on this issue, and as a school board, we're here to support staff's needs. One of the frustrations I've heard is that if you want to prosecute parents who allow children to have excessive absences, local prosecutors often don't think this is necessary or won't do it. Again, I think part of it is that you have to have an atmosphere in your school that kids want to be part of. Usually, that involves having fantastic staff who are paid well and having programs that can be funded.
Are you satisfied with your school district's policy on AI use by students? If so, why? If not, what would you suggest to improve the AI policy?
The policy gets the big thing right. It treats AI as an educational tool with safeguards instead of banning it. My focus is on what comes next. The regulations, not the policy, decide what a student can actually do. I want three things in them. Clear, grade-appropriate rules teachers can state on day one, so students are not guessing. AI literacy taught as a skill, because these students will use these tools at work. And no reliance on AI detection software, which is unreliable and punishes honest kids.
Youth mental health has been a growing concern for years now. Do you think your school district has the resources and personnel in place to deal with this issue adequately? If not, what would you suggest to improve the situation?
Start with the win. Not long ago we only talked about mental health in a crisis. Today it is one of the top education issues in Maryland, taken seriously at the highest levels. That is real progress.
We acted on it here. On the board, I pushed to put a guidance counselor in every school, including the small ones in Cascade and Hancock, over our superintendent's objection. We funded behavior specialists. Since then we have added de-escalation spaces, universal pre-K so needs are caught earlier and a partnership with Meritus Health through Landon's Project.
The gap now is speed. Students who clearly need services wait too long, sitting in classrooms where their needs go unmet and other children lose learning time. Staff feel their hands are tied until it gets bad enough. Rapid response has to mean days, not semesters.
Do you think there are circumstances when books should be removed from school libraries? If so, what kind of books should be removed, and who should make those decisions?
Books are constantly removed from shelves. It is called weeding. Media specialists review their collections and pull what is worn out, unused or flat-out wrong, like a geography book that still shows the Soviet Union. We hire trained professionals for that, and they do it well.
Parents have rights here too. If you do not want your child reading a particular book, say so. Make an appointment with your school's media specialist and you will be heard. I have seen schools accommodate families whose faith or culture sets limits, and that is how it should work. Maryland also has a formal review process, with a parent on the committee, for challenging a title.
